Process of conducting combustion.



PATENTED MAY'21, 1907.

- B. E. ELDRED'.

PROCESS OF CONDUCTING COMBUSTION.

APPLICATION FILED 10150.16, 1904.

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PATENTED MAY 21, 1907.

7 B.E.ELDRED. PROGESS 0F CONDUCTING COMBUSTION.

APPLICATION FILED DEO.16, 1904.

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PATENTED MAY 21, 1907.

B. E. ELDRED. PROCESS OF CONDUCTING COMBUSTION.

APPLIOATION FILED 1330.16, 1904.

- ATTORNEYS WITNESSES TM: NORRIS PETERS cuv, WASHINGTON, n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BYRON E. ELDREB, OF BRONXVILLE, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO COMBUS- TIONUTILITIES COMPANY, OF NET/V YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 21, 1907.

Application filed December 16, 190%. Serial N0. 237,065.

T0 calla/171 071 it may concern.

Be it known that I, BYRON E. ELDRED, a citizen of the United States,residing at BronXville, county of VVestchester, State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of ConductingCombustion, of which the following specification and accompanyingdrawings disclose as an illustration one embodiment thereof which I nowregard as the best out of the various forms in which the principles ofmy invention may be applied.

This invention relates to the process of conducting combustion byproducing a volu minous slow-burning flame with the use of neutral gasin the draft-current as a diluent for the oxygen, as described in myPatent No. 692,257, February 4, 1902.

The present invention relates more particularly to that branch of thepractice of said art according to which the flame is de veloped in acomparatively free space such as the hearth-chamber of a reverberatoryfurnace, and the invention has for its object the provision of meanswhereby an intense combustion may be obtained from a flame of theaforesaid character at any desired point or points.

In an application Serial Number 225,395, filed Sept. 21, 1904 pendingconcurrently herewith I have described means for localizing andintensifying the combustion at any desired point by mechanical agitationwhich may be produced by a transverse jet of a gaseous nature such as anair-jet, and in order to cover any desired area of the materials undertreatment my aforesaid application shows a series of nozzles and anair-distributing valve-mechanism whereby a series of jets are rojectedin succession across the path of t e flame at successive points, thespecific operation of that arrangement being that each jet or series ofjets in action at any instant uses up substantially all of thecombustible of the flame and abruptly terminates the combustion. Theterminus of the flame must therefore according to that arrangement shiftrelatively to the material in order to make the localized or intensifiedcombustion effective over a considerable area of the materials, whichshifting is effected by the valve-mechanism.

The present invention involves the same general idea of means as thatdisclosed in my aforesaid application, but specifically differs from itin that the terminus of the flame is not caused to shift, but the resultof covering a considerable area of the materials with the localizedcombustion is obtained with stationary jets. This result may be broughtabout by causing a series of jets to act simultaneously at differentpoints along the combustion chamber and so arranging as that those jetsfirst encountered by the flame shall localize the combustion of aportion only of the gaseous current, the remaining portion passing on tothe neXt jet or group of jets, which localize the combustion of afurther portion of the current, and so on until the desired area hasbeen covered.

Figure 1 represents a longitudinal section of a reverberatory furnaceequipped according to and adapted to carry out my invention; Fig. 2represents a plan view thereof; Fig. 3 represents an enlarged transversesection on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

- The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all thefigures.

indicates a hearth-chamber having fireboX 11 at one end and a stack 12at the other end.

13 is the grate of the firebox, 14 the firechamber above the grate, 15the ash-pit below, and 16 the bridge-wall.

From a point below the damper 17 in the stack 12 a pipe 18 leads back tothe ash-pit 15 for conducting a portion of the stackgases underneath thegrate. In this pipe is a fan-blower 19 and an air-inlet 20 back of saidfan for supplying such portion of air to the draft as is necessary tomaintain the desired combustion.

21 and 22 are valves or dampers in the pipe 18 and its air-branch forregulating the relative quantity of air and stack-gas in the draftcurrent.

From the sides of the hearthchamb er 10 a series of inclined nozzles 23project toward each other and downward toward the lower.

minate at vertical distances from the hearth increasing successively 1nthe direction of travel of the flame. They are shown in. pairs asindicated in Fig. 2. Air is supplied by a pipe 25 from an air-compressor26.

The effect of the neutral diluent in the airdraft is to produce avoluminous slow-burning flame inflated by the inert gases and relativelycool as compared with an ordinary flame. The fuel-bed also burns at alower temperature by reason of the presence of the stack gases, carbondioxid reacting with carbon to form carbon monoxid by an endothermicreaction which counteracts the exothermic action of the air in the draftcurrent. The flame which enters the hearth-chamber is capable of burningat a long distancefrom the seat of initial combustion. Upon encounteringthe air-jets issuing from the first pair of nozzles 23 the lower andouter portions of the flaming gas-current are subjected to the influenceof these jets, whichagitate the ingredients of the flame, bringing abouta vigorous union of the oxygen and combustible and locally intensifyingthe combustion. The remaining portion of the slow-burning flame passesbetween and above the first pair of jets and encounters the second pairwhich, owing to their direction and greater elevation, will influencethose portions of the flame which have passed above the first jets, andowing to the conical shape of the jets they may be caused to influence alarger area of the materials on the hearth. Those portions of theoriginal flaming gas-current which escape past the second pair of jets,upon encountering the third pair will be furt-her consumed thereby andthe combustion locally intensified, and so on. In this way the originalrelatively-cool and voluminous slow-burning flame is distributed over alarge area of the materials under treatment and its combustion locallyintensified in a series of restricted regions simultaneously, atdifferent distances from the origin of the flame.

The results aimed at may be promoted by employing jets of diflerentvelocities. By imparting to the first pair of jets, nearest to thehearth and to the fire-box, a light velocity and a relatively smallvolume, they may be caused to influence the lower portion only of theflaming gascurrent. The next pair of jets has a greater velocity andinfluences a higher portion of the gas current, and so on.

The mixture of air and stack gases is supplied to the fuel bed fasterthan the reactive capacity -of the fuel and much of the same passesthrough to inflate the combustible gases produced, yielding a gaseousmixture in which the combustible burns tardily owing to the specificdamping influence of carbon dioxid upon the formation of more carbondioxid, the dilution and the comparative paucity of free oxygen. Theresult is a tardily but uniformly burning flame atmosphere, withcombustion. throughout its mass.

The excess of free oxygen furnished by ihc penetrating air jets causesfree combustion in their vicinity and consequent quick de velopment ofheat. This flame almosphei-e as compared with an ordinary flame, may besaid to be dilated. or inflated. by the presence of the dilutingsubstances named.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1.. The process of conducting combustion which consists in producing atardily burnin voluminous inflated flame and locally intensifying thecombustion of said flame in a plurality of horizontal strata at pointsat dill'er ent distances from its origin.

2. The process of conductii'ig combustion which consists in producing al'ardily bnning voluminous inflated flame and locally intensifying thecombustion of said flame in a plurality of horizontal strata at pointsat dillcrent distances from. its origin, each further point beinglocated in higher strata than each nearer.

The process of conducting combustion which consists in producing atardily burning voluminous inflated flame and locally intensifying theCOlnbUStlOTi of said flame in a plurality of horizontal strata at pointsat dill'erent distances from. its origin by a series ol piercing airjets directed into said strai a at such points from the side.

4. The process of conducting combustion which consists in producing atardily burning voluminous inflated flameand locally intensifying thecombustion of said :llamc in a plurality of horizontal strata at pointsat dill'er ent distances from .its origii'i by a series of piercing airjets directed into said strata at such points from the side, eachfurther point being located in a higher stratum than each nearer.

The process of combustion which consists in passing through a shallowbed of ignitcd fuel a draft current of air diluted wit h products ofCOIl'l'lbllStlOi'l, passing the resultant ignitcd gaseous productsthrough a reverberatory furnace and intensifying their combustion in aplurality of horizontal. stral a by piercing air jets located atdill'erent dis tanees from the fuel bed and directed into differentstrata.

6. The process of con'ibustion which consists in passing through ashallow bed of ignited fuel a draft currei'it of air diluted wit hproducts of combustion, passing the resultant ignitcd gaseous productsthrough. a reverberatory furnace and intensifying their combustion in aplurality of horizontal stral a each further jet being directed into ahigher stratum than each nearer.

7. The process of combustion which consists in producing a tardilyburning inflated VOl'tlll'llllOUS flame, localizing the combustion ofsaid flame at a plurality of points at difl'crcnt distances from itsorigin. and in. different strata of said flame by ets of differentvelocities.

8. The process of combustion which consists in producing a tardilyburning inflated voluminous flame, and localizing the combustion of saidflame by a plurality of air jets of diflerent velocities actingsimultaneously at different distances from the origin of the flame andin different strata of said flame.

9. The process of combustion which consists in producing a tardilyburning inflated voluminous flame and localizing the combustion of saidflame by a plurality of jets operating at different distances from theorigin of the flame and originating at distances from the hearth Whichsuccessively increase in the direction of travel of the flame.

10. The process of heating material in re- BYRON E. ELDRED.

WVitnesses:

JAs. W. KEILL, M. W. BACON.

